Ragnar Training — My First Double Run

One of my strategies for Ragnar training is to add a few double runs to my schedule–running twice on the same day, in the morning and in the evening. While many people run at different times of the day depending on their schedule, the weather, or their mood, that is not me. I like to run first thing in the morning. I probably could count on two hands the number of times I’ve hit the treadmill in the afternoon, and I probably could count on one finger the number of times I’ve run outside in the afternoon (and I won’t say which finger!). 

Ragnar

One concern I have about running doubles for my Ragnar training is the weather in the Washington, D.C. area this time of year. I really don’t do well in the heat and humidity, no matter what time of day it is. Continue reading

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August Virtual Coffee Date

It’s the first Saturday in August, which means it’s time to grab a cup of coffee (or other beverage of choice) and pull up a chair for the monthly Virtual Coffee Date.

Virtual Coffee Date

If we were having coffee, I’d make sure you’d seen my exciting news and ask for your honest feedback on my new blog header. 

If we were having coffee, I’d try to avoid saying, “Can you believe it’s August already?!” but I’d probably whine about how dark it is when my alarm goes off. Even the weather channel app knows it’s dark!

20140731-202408-73448933.jpg

Pretty soon I’ll need knuckle lights for our 5:15 track workouts. 🙁

If we were having coffee, I’d ask if you’d heard about the study reported last week that found that many obese children think that they are a “normal” weight. My first reaction to the news is that they probably are a “normal” weight given the high level of childhood obesity in this country. In 2011, NPR did an in-depth series called Living Large: Obesity in America that I found very eye-opening. Several episodes focused on Mississippi (as the state with the worst obesity problems) and one of the things that stuck with me was the way the people interviewed used the term “healthy” to describe people who were overweight, and only thought of someone as “overweight” if they were morbidly obese. As some of the doctors interviewed explained, when people don’t see their weight as a problem, they won’t take any steps to adopt a healthier lifestyle. 

If we were having coffee, I’d get off my soapbox and ask if you would like to take a few tomatoes from my Mom’s garden, and try one of my great gazpacho recipes (here and here).

Moms Tomatoes

I am trying to find out how many times I can get away with fixing BLTs for dinner. 🙂

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you tell me …

What’s new in your life?

Do you have any vacation plans?

Have you read any good books lately?

Posted in About Me | Tagged | 11 Comments

New And Improved! Friday Five Link Up

This week’s Friday Five link up theme could not have been more perfect for me. This month I will be celebrating four years of blogging, and I have some new things in store that I am pretty excited about.  

New And Improved!

1. New Blog Header. I love the blog header that Rita at Blog Genie made for me, but after three years I am ready for a change. So many of the blogs I love have more personal headers, and I’ve been wanting a fresher look. I’m not quite ready to part with my cherry blossom runner girl since she really does mean so much to me, so I’ve incorporated her in my new design. 

Got2Run4Me Blog Header

I may keep playing with it, so let me know what you think! 

2. New Blog Series. After four years of blogging and reading blogs, I’ve collected some tips and tricks that I think are worth sharing. I’m going to tell all my blogging secrets in a Blog Tip Tuesday series throughout August. Stay tuned!

3. New haircut. Talk about perfect timing! I got my haircut yesterday. My daughter thinks I need to cover up that gray streak, but I like to keep it to remind her and her brother of all they’ve put me through. 😉 

Haircut

4. New running skort. I won’t buy running shorts unless they are compression shorts or have a gripper to keep them from riding up. I lucked out when I found this Athleta Contender Skort on sale. The shorts have silicone leg grips which really do keep them in place. I wore them on a sweaty 5 mile run and never had to make any adjustments.

Athleta Contender Skort

 5. New excitement about running. I am surprised at how excited I am about being on a Ragnar team and training for the challenge of running three times over 36-ish hours. Between that an the fantastic weather we’ve been having, I have a new-found excitement about running that I hope will carry me through the dog days of August! I’ve added a new menu category for Ragnar-related posts to make it easier to keep up to date on this adventure. 

[Tweet “New And Improved! #FridayFive”]

Find out what else is new around the blogosphere and check out the Friday Five link up with Eat Pray Run DCMar on the Run and You Signed Up for What!

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Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho Recipe

Another week, another bountiful haul of tomatoes from my Mom’s garden! Luckily for me, the Washington Post had an article on no-cook recipes that included an intriguing Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho recipe. Luckily for you, it was delicious enough to share.

Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho Recipe

 The ingredients are simple:  Continue reading

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Running Hill Repeats

Last week I added running hill repeats to the growing list of new things I’ve done with my Mom’s Run This Town group. I’ve always included hill work in my race training plans, but I usually do incline intervals on the treadmill. 

Hill Repeats
Now that many women in my MRTT group are training for fall marathons, we’ve decide to alternate our weekly track workouts with hill repeat workouts. I am not doing a marathon, but now that I’ve seen my leg assignments for Ragnar, I figure the more hills I can train on the better. Continue reading

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